Commission spokesperson Jackie Maitland said there was nothing unusual in the dual clearances. "We do not determine who the successful buyer will be; both registered on the same day and both decisions were due out today," she told EnergyReview.Net from Wellington.

Contact chief executive Stephen Barrett welcomed the commission's decision to grant his company clearance to acquire the 357MW TCC station.

"Today's decision is an important milestone, and allows the parties to move ahead with this important initiative. The transaction still requires the approval of a majority of NGC shareholders, and we understand that a special meeting of those shareholders will be called shortly," said Barrett.

NGC's majority shareholder, The Australian Gas Light Company, has already indicated it intends to support the sale of the TCC power station to Contact.

"Our present expectation is that settlement of the sale will occur in early March," added the Contact chief.

Two days before Christmas Contact and NGC announced the proposed $500 million transaction, noting that it was subject to a number of pre-conditions, including commerce commission clearance.

Contact had sufficient bridging facilities in place to fund the transaction, and intended to refinance these facilities by the issuing of long-term senior debt into the United States private placement market. Contact was working with its banking advisers to have that long-term debt raising completed by the end of March.

Barrett added that the four-year-old station would complement Contact's existing thermal generation fleet at Otahuhu-B (380MW), Otahuhu-A (40MW), New Plymouth (400MW), and Te Rapa (44MW).